Sword Art Online: Overture of a Silent Night
by Nahnashi
Summary: Kirito and the others meet an unexpected friend who sends them on a quest to save Christmas in ALfheim.


Sword Art Online:

Overture of a Silent Night

"Kirito, m'buddy!" A drunken Salamander spotted me and stumbled across the room with a drink in hand. "Have a drink, man, ish on me!"

"I'm sort of underage, so…"

"No worries! ALfheim knows all! It'll make it into a regular drink for ya!" The Salamander, wearing a hideous bandana, draped his arm around my shoulders and shoved a drink into my hands. "There ya go! Down the hatch!"

"Thanks, Klein…"

"Ish no problem, buddy. Cheers!"

"Cheers…" I downed the drink. It was non-alcoholic, of course, just as Klein had said. The AmuSphere, a FullDive rig necessary to play ALfheim Online, was able to determine the age of its user and convert all alcoholic drinks non-alcoholic equivalents. I knew that, of course, but I didn't really want to encourage him.

"Klein, I think you should go sit down."

"Wha!? 'M totally fine! Fit as a fiddle!"

"I think someone's calling me."

"Psssssh! Go on, then. I'll jus' share a big boy drink with mah good buddy Agil. Hey, Agil!"

Klein wobbled toward the counter and sat down on a stool beside a large, dark-skinned Gnome. I saw Agil shake his head, but he was on his own.

I wandered around the tavern, which we'd decorated with garland, wreaths, and even a small fir serving as a christmas tree in the far corner.

"Kirito!" A small Imp with long, purple hair and a red headband called out to me.

"Hey, Yuuki. Having fun?"

"You betcha! Asuna really pulled out all the stops with this food, huh?"

"Oh, stop," a beautiful Undine girl standing beside her blushed. "It's nothing special, really."

"She's not kidding, Asuna," I said. "I'm used to eating your cooking and even I think this is especially good."

"You really think so?"

"Yep, I think so."

"So do I!" Our heads turned to a pink-haired Leprechaun stuffing their face at the buffet table Agil had set up.

"You know, Liz," I started. "I heard they're adding a weight-gain feature in the next update to make the game more realistic. I'd be careful if I were you."

"MMMF!?" the girl shrieked with her mouth full of cake.

"Just kidding," I said.

Liz growled and finished her last bite of cake.

"Daddy, don't tease Lisbeth." The chastising voice came from a small Navigation Pixie hovering just over my shoulder.

"You're right, Yui. Sorry, Liz. Think you can find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"I don't know, that comment left me pretty sore. But… I might just forgive you if you bring me ten units of Mithril Ore. Free of charge, of course." She winked shrewdly and stuck her tongue out.

"I guess I kind of asked for that…"

"Save some of that cake for me, Liz!" Yuuki rushed over to the buffet table and served herself a slice of cake, then stayed there chatting with Lisbeth as she nibbled away at it.

"Mommy," said Yui, changing from pixie to normal size. "Strea and I are about to put the star on the tree. Come watch!"

"Alright," said Asuna, giggling.

Yui took her by the hand and guided her to the tree in the corner where Strea was waiting. Strea picked Yui up and lifted her above her head and the tiny girl laughed bubbly as she placed the star ornament on top of the tree.

"Kazu—uh, Kirito!"

"Yeah, Leafa?" I said, turning to face my sister Suguha. Though her hair and eyes were black in the real world, like mine, she had blonde hair and green eyes here in ALfheim, both of which were characteristic of her Fairy Race: the Sylphs.

"Philia and I just finished making hot chocolate! Wanna test—er, I mean try some?"

"Why am I always your guinea pig…?"

"Because you're so good at it! It's one of your many talents."

"Well, since you're going out of your way to flatter me."

"Don't worry," said Philia, a girl with black hair and blue eyes who played a Spriggan, same as me. "It's not poisoned or anything. Probably."

"Probably…? "

"Probably."

"Well…bottoms up, I guess. Not like my HP can drop in a safe zone, anyway."

I grabbed a cup from the tray in Leafa's hands and took a swig.

"Wow… Not bad!"

"Really!?" the girls chimed in tandem.

"Yeah! It's got the perfect milk to chocolate ratio, and it's not too hot or too cold, either."

"I'm glad you like it!" Philia bubbled. "Would you mind passing it out to everyone while we make more?"

"Sure thing, I'd be happy to."

"Thanks, Kirito!" Leafa handed me her tray and she and Philia trotted off behind the counter to start making more. I made my rounds, handing a cup to Agil first, then Klein, who was still with him and now crying for some reason while Agil patted his back. Then I made my way to Liz and Yuuki who were still by the buffet table, both still grazing on cake, then to Asuna, Strea, and Yui who were sitting beneath the tree. Lastly, I made my way to two Cait Sith girls sitting at a table in the corner. As I got closer I heard them conversing about something and stopped for a moment.

"But it's true! I really saw it!" said the smaller of the two girls.

"Skraaaaw!" A small, blue, feathered dragon perched atop the girl's head chirped in agreement.

"It's not that I don't believe you, Silica. It's just…I've never seen anything like that in ALO before."

"Hey, ladies," I said as I reached the table. "Can I interest you in some hot chocolate?"

"Sure, I'd love some!" said Silica. "Want to sit down with us? I was just telling Sinon about this animal I saw near Swilvane a little while ago."

"She says it was an antelope, but…"

"It was definitely an antelope!"

"A what-now?" I asked, pulling up a chair.

"An antelope," Sinon said. "It's a horned, quadrupedal, herbivorous mammal found mostly in Africa."

"Africa? Aren't most of the mobs in ALO based on creatures from Scandinavian mythology?"

"That's precisely why I'm having a hard time believing this antelope story."

"I know how it sounds…" Silica frowned. "But I really did see one! Why would I lie to you?"

"I don't think you're lying or anything, but maybe you're tired and just thought you saw something. I mean, it's pretty late and the rest of us aren't used to staying up all night playing video games like Kirito."

"Snarky comment aside, I know a certain info-loving Cait Sith who might know something about this rare mob of yours."

"Oh, yeah!" Silica jumped from her chair and clapped her hands together. "We can ask Miss Argo!"

"I'll send her a message." I swiped my hand in the air as I spoke to call up the menu and began typing a message to Argo asking about antelope mobs. In that moment, the tavern door burst open and two players walked in.

"Privyet, everyone!"

"Seven!" Silica called out and waved. "Puribetto!"

Seven, the small, silver-haired Pooka, giggled as she strode toward our table. "So close, Silica! Keep practicing."

"Hello, everyone," said the player who'd arrived with Seven. She was a Leprechaun with long, red hair, and was Seven's older sister in the real world. "Sorry we're late."

"Hey, Rain," I said. "Don't worry about that. We're just glad you could make it."

"Who're you messaging?" Seven asked as she leaned over my shoulder.

"I was asking Argo if she knew anything about a strange mob Silica saw earlier, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet."

Just then, the door burst open again. "Nya-ha! Speak of the devil and she will appear!" said a high-pitched, nasally voice.

"Hey, Argo," I said. "I thought you said you couldn't make it to the party?"

"True, true. But I was in the neighborhood when ya sent that message, and it intrigued me, so I figured I oughtta drop by real quick an' get the deets in person, ya dig?"

"You sure you aren't just making excuses to visit us?"

"Can it, Kii-boy." Argo pouted, but her cheeks turned a shade of pink despite herself. "At any rate, what's this about a rare mob?"

"It was an antelope!" Silica said. "I saw it by the forest east of Swilvane. Do you know anything about it?"

"Antelope, eh? Hmm… Nope, sorry, never heard of any antelope in ALO."

"Well, that settles it," said Sinon. "If Argo doesn't know about it, it probably doesn't exist."

"I appreciate the praise, girly, but I wouldn't go countin' yer chickens just yet. I'm thinkin' this might be a case o' mistaken identity."

"Mistaken identity?" Sinon tilted her head slightly.

"In other words, I don't doubt that lil Silica saw somethin'. She may have just got the names mixed up, though."

"Well, what do you think it was?"

"I can't say for certain, but I got a hunch. An' if I'm right it could have somethin' to do with a rare quest. That bein' said, I'd be willin' to pay for any info ya gather if you kids were thinkin' o' goin' to check it out."

"If this has got Argo's quest senses tingling then I'm definitely curious," I admitted.

"In that case, let's all go look for it!" Seven said.

"But we just got here…" Rain groaned. "Don't you want to relax and enjoy the party for a bit?"

"Party, shmarty, it can wait! We can't pass up the opportunity to be the first to clear a new quest?"

"Have you been hanging out with Kirito lately…?"

"Shush, Sinon. Anyway, who's with me?"

"I'm game," I said.

"Looking for rare animals sounds like fun!" Yuuki called, raising her hand.

"I will definitely prove that I'm not crazy!" Silica huffed.

"Skraw!" Pina chirped.

"As long as we're all together, it doesn't matter what we do. Right?"

"You said it, Asuna. Let's do it!" Philia chimed.

In the end, we decided unanimously to go search for the antelope.

"You sure you can't come with us, Argo?" I asked.

"Nah, sorry, kiddo. Got plenty o' work to do. You kids have fun, though. Lemme know what you find." Argo waved over her shoulder as she left the inn, and as she walked away I could swear I saw her shoulders slump. The rest of us left the inn soon after and took off, heading southwest toward Sylph territory. With the altitude limit removed we were able to fly over the mountains, so we didn't have to walk at all, but it still took some time to get there. But no one complained—flying through the snow was actually pretty nice.

"There it is!" Silica whispered as we landed quietly behind a snowbank.

"That's…" Sinon started.

"An antelope!" cried Seven.

"Ssshhh!" Silica put her finger over her lips.

"S-sorry!"

"Actually, Seven," said Sinon. "That's not an antelope. It's a reindeer. Aren't you a scientist or something?"

"Oh, shush! I study virtual reality! I'm not a zoologist."

"Well…I was close. Right…?" Silica laughed shyly.

"In any case," I said. "If that's a reindeer, then Argo might have been onto something. Maybe it's related to some kind of holiday quest."

"True, but how do we get near it?" Asuna asked. "It's a non-hostile mob. Those types usually run if a player gets close."

"If it really is a holiday event mob, maybe it will be set not to run away if we approach it?" I offered.

"Maybe, but we'd better not risk it. Especially if it has something to do with a quest."

"Well, if we're airing on the side of caution, maybe we should send a Cait Sith to try to talk to it."

"Don't look at me," said Sinon. "I'm not good at this sort of thing. You'd better do it, Silica."

"Me!? Why me?"

"You're the only beast tamer here. Besides, this whole adventure was your idea."

"Yeah, but…"

"Go for it, Silica!" Asuna cheered. "You can do this!"

"Yeah, break a leg!" said Kelin, who was sober again thanks to "drunk" being a short-term status ailment in ALO.

"Ok, I'll try."

Silica crawled over the snowbank and made her way toward the reindeer. She took soft, quiet strides, moving as slowly as she could. "Hello, Mr. Reindeer!" she said gently. "We're not gonna hurt you."

The reindeer eyed Silica cautiously, but after a moment it began to approach her. When they met, Silica patted the reindeer's snout and began to chatter with it, but I couldn't make out what she was saying from here.

A few minutes passed and Silica headed toward us again while the reindeer waited patiently.

"Guys!" she called out. "Mr. Reindeer needs our help!"

"He does…?" I asked. I looked at the reindeer and, sure enough, it had a gold "!" marking it as a quest NPC. "No way!"

"That animal is really a questgiver?" said Agil. "Is that even possible?"

"Evidently, it is," said Sinon.

"Silica talking to it must have triggered some kind of flag." I furrowed my brow.

"That's so cool!" Yuuki cried. "I wish I could talk to animals!"

"You could always make a Cait Sith alt account and work on your Beast Taming skill," I offered.

"On second thought…that sounds like a lot of work."

"At any rate," Sinon sasid, all business. "What does your reindeer friend want from us?"

Silica took a deep breath. "Wellyouseehetoldmethatheandhisfriendswerepullinghismaster'ssleighbutthensomegoblinsattackedthemoutofnowhereandtheycrashedandhismasterscaredthemawaywithhismagicbuthtegoblinsstolepartsofthesleighandnowthey'restranded!" She took another deep breath, panting from the effort.

"…"

About thirty seconds went by as we all stared at Silica with our mouths hanging open.

"What…?" Leafa finally asked.

"Oh, just follow me!"

We followed Silica to the reindeer who guided us into the forest. We walked for about ten minutes, silently enjoying the atmosphere. It was night already, but the moon was full and reflected off the fresh snow on the ground and the flakes still dancing through the air so we could see the way without issue.

The reindeer stopped at a small clearing. At the center of the clearing was a large, red sleigh, attached to which were seven more reindeer.

"Dancer!" A large man turned away from the sleigh to face us. "You've returned! And you brought friends…" The man had a long, white beard and a kindly face, and wore a red coat with white fur as well as black boots and a large, black belt with a gold buckle. A yellow cursor hovered over his head along with a nametag. "Greetings, Fairies," the man said. "I am Nicholas. But you may call me 'Nick.'"

"He seems…familiar," I noted.

"SANTA!" Seven bolted forward and nearly tackled the man.

"Oh, goodness!" he said as he caught her. "Do you know me somehow, little lady?"

"That's…sort of complicated," I said. With Nicholas being an NPC, explaining to him that we knew him as "Santa Claus" from the real world would only confuse him.

"Hmmm… Very well, young Spriggan. I'll accept that you have your reasons for not revealing how you know of me. At any rate…" He stroked his beard and furrowed his brow. "I'm in quite the predicament. It seems I won't be able to fulfill my annual task this year…"

"Annual task?" Strea asked, tilting her head. "What could he mean by that?"

"Isn't it obvious!?" Seven jumped out of Nicholas's arms. "He needs our help, or he won't be able to deliver toys to all the children in Alfheim!"

"Huh…?"

"Oh, that's right! The way you talk is so natural that I always forget you're an AI."

Strea laughed. "Well, I guess that's a good thing. So what's this 'annual task'?"

"I'll explain," Asuna said with a smile. "On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus rides his magic sleigh, pulled by eight magic reindeer, all around the world delivering presents to all the kids who have been good."

"What a wonderful holiday tradition! Now I really wish I could live in the real world with you guys!"

"It is pretty nice. Children are always so happy this time of year because of what Santa does."

"Yes," Nicholas said. "But this year I'm afraid I won't be able to spread that cheer…" Nick looked down at the ground and his shoulders slumped.

"Don't say that, Santa!" Seven cried.

"I'm sorry, young one, but I'm afraid it's true. My sleigh is in no condition to move, and some of my reindeer are hurt."

"We can help you!" Seven said.

"Yeah!" said Leafa. "Let's start by healing the reindeer."

"Kind Fairies," Nicholas started, his eyes welling up. "I can't thank you enough."

Leafa approached the tired reindeer and began to chant a healing spell. She finished the incantation and a warm glow surrounded the reindeer, but they did not move.

"Did it work…?" Leafa asked.

I opened my menu and checked the quest log. "The objective is still 'heal the reindeer.'"

"But Leafa's been playing ALO longer than anyone!" Philia cried. "If she can't do it…"

"Let me give it a try," said Asuna. "I've been working pretty hard on my Healing Magic skill."

"That's a great idea!" said Leafa. "Healing spells get a power boost when they're cast by an Undine!"

"I'll use the strongest spell I know…" Asuna clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, focusing on the words of power. "Þeír fylla gullin öl, helgask allr eitrið, rísa folk!"

"I'll never know how you kids manage to memorize all that gibberish," Agil said, scratching the back of his head.

"Look! It's working!" Silica hopped merrily and clapped.

When the healing glow subsided the reindeer pushed themselves to their feet—or hooves—and the quest log updated, reading "speak with Nicholas."

"That was amazing, Asuna!" said Silica.

"N-no, it was nothing, really."

"So, uhm, Nick," I started. "Your reindeer are all better. Can you complete your task now?"

"Alas, I cannot," said Nicholas.

"I figured it wouldn't be that easy. Can you tell us what else you need?"

"You've already gone out of your way to help us, and I would not normally ask you for further aid. However…under these circumstances, I have no choice. I am grateful for your help, kind Fairies. This sleigh is magic, you see. But the enchantment placed upon it is useless unless it is whole." Nicholas turned and gestured to his sleigh which was leaning slightly to the left, and when I looked closer I noticed it was missing a runner. "As you can see, the goblins stole one of my sleigh's runners and ran off with it."

"Those greedy little jerks!" Lisbeth growled. "What kind of monster attacks Santa Claus!?"

Nicholas pointed to the north. "I'm not sure exactly where they went, but they ran off in that direction. I beg of you, Fairies, please retrieve the runner and help me restore my sleigh."

"You can count on us, Santa!" Seven blurted before snatching Rain's hand and taking off to the north.

"S-Seven! Slow down!" The sisters flew away and the rest of us spread our wings to follow.

"Don't worry, Santa," Silica called down from the sky. "We won't let you down!" She hurried with the rest of us to catch up with Seven and Rain who were barely visible by now.

We flew high above the forest, silently scanning the land beneath us, for well over twenty minutes before we saw any sign of the goblins.

"Hey, I see something!" Philia called out from the front of the group. She began to descend and we followed her down, landing in front of a huge rock wall with two lit braziers on either side of it.

"Why did we stop?" Liz asked.

"This is just a wall…" Rain scanned the rock wall looking confused.

"Yeah," Philia said. "But these braziers have to be here for a reason, right? Plus, look at them! The have reliefs of goblins on them."

"I don't know, Philia…" Yuuki scratcher her head. "Looks like a whole lot o' nothin' if you ask me."

"I wouldn't write it off just yet, guys." All heads turned to me. "I think Philia's onto something."

"You think so?" asked Leafa.

"Yeah. I'd be willing to bet this is some kind of secret door that leads to the goblins' lair. The question is how to open it."

"Hmmm…" Yui hovered toward the rock wall and inspected it for a moment, then returned to me. "Daddy, you're right! This is definitely the entrance to a dungeon!"

"Knew it! Good eye, Philia."

"All in a day's work for ALO's top treasure hunter!" Philia chimed.

"The door is sealed by powerful earth magic," Yui continued. "I'm not sure how to open it…"

"Did someone say earth magic?" Strea made her way toward the front of the group.

"Yeah. Gnomes are especially good at earth magic, right? Think you can do something about this seal?"

"Leave it to me, Kirito! This seal won't know what hit it!"

"Hold up," said a loud, baritone voice in the back of the group. "Don't forget that I play a Gnome, too." Agil stood beside Strea. "I think I know just what spell we need to crack this cave open." Agil leaned toward Strea and whispered something.

"Oh, I love that one!"

Agil and Strea spread their feet wide and clenched their fists tightly and began some sort of strange dance. They stomped their feet and punched the air, slowly circling each other. The rest of us watched in silence doing our best not to laugh.

After about five minutes Agil and Strea stomped one last time and punched through the air in the direction of the rock wall and shouted "huh!" as if they were doing some sort of kung fu move. At first, nothing happened. Then there was a soft rumbling sound and the rock wall exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the mountain.

"You did it!" Silica cheered.

"I can't believe that worked…" said Liz.

"You guys looked awesome!"

"Aw, thanks, Yuuki!" Strea beamed proudly.

"Let's not waste any more time," said Agil. "Old Saint Nick is counting on us."

"Right," I said. "Let's go!"

Everyone cheered "yeah!" and we rushed into the newly opened cave.

The cave entrance led immediately to a large antechamber with a massive double door on the far side.

"That looks like the boss room!" said Rain.

"Huh," Klein mused. "That was easy."

"I'd hold off on the celebration." I stepped up to the doors and pushed. "Yup, just as I figured. It's locked."

"Tch!" Klein clicked his tongue. "That figures… Any idea how to open it?"

"There are four little slots on the doors. Probably keyholes. My guess is we're gonna have to search the dungeon for four keys, then bring them back here to unlock this door and access the boss room."

"Just four?" said Yuuki. "Easy peasy!"

"I doubt it'll be easy, Yuuki." Asuna furrowed her brow. "This is a holiday event, after all. We shouldn't let our guard down."

"No sweat." Yuuki winked and made a "V" with her index and middle fingers. "With all of us working together we'll clear this quest in no time."

"So, which way should we check first?" Leafa asked. "There are two paths—one on the left and one on the right."

"I'd guess that we're probably going to have to search both," I said. "So it doesn't really matter which one we pick first."

"Let's go left!" said Seven.

"Alright. Left it is."

We headed down the corridor on the left side, which was surprisingly spacious for a dungeon, and walked for a long time before coming to a large room whose floor was littered with gold. There were Yuld coins, goblets, crowns, treasure chests—pretty much anything of value could be found somewhere in this room.

"Whoa… Look at all the treasure!" Yuuki stared in awe at the glittering walls and floor.

"I can't imagine how many travelers these dirty thieves had to ambush to build up a stash like this," Leafa growled.

"Don't sweat it, Leafa," said Philia. "When we're through with those goblins, they won't be stealing any more treasure!"

"At any rate," I said, hoping to keep our progress rolling. "I think it's a safe bet that one of the keys is in this room. But how are we supposed to find it?"

"It could take hours to sort through all of this stuff," Asuna said, frowning.

"Ugh," Liz groaned. "I think I'd rather fight an unbeatable boss than sift through junk."

"We'd better just get started," said Sinon. "The more time we spend complaining, the longer we'll be here."

"Sinon's right, complaining will only make it worse. Let's hurry and find the key!" Silica got on her hands and knees and started digging through the treasure, tossing aside jewels and expensive-looking cups.

"Hold on, Silica."

"Hm? What is it, Kirito?"

"There has to be an easier way than this. Looking at it from a dev's perspective, I can't imagine creating a quest that forces players to sort through clutter items. It's just not fun. And that's what MMOs are all about, right?"

"Well," said Sinon, folding her arms. "What did you have in mind?"

"If it's in a room like this, the key has to be classified as some kind of treasure, right?"

"Sure… But I don't really see where you're going with this."

"Oh! I do!" Philia hopped a few times with her hand raised over the heads of the others. "Spriggans are good at finding treasure. You're thinking of using your Search skill, right?"

"Exactly. You read my mind, Philia."

"Let's do it together! You stay on this side of the room and I'll go to the north end. If we use our Search skill together it'll cover the whole room and we'll find the key in one try!"

"Solid plan. But I'd expect nothing less from Philia the Treasure Hunter."

Philia marched to the far end of the room, treasure crunching and jingling under her feet, and turned around. "Ready?" she called out to me.

"Ready!"

"Search!" we both shouted.

Everything went black and a green circle appeared around me, then expanded, scanning the room like a radar and highlighting every detail. After a moment the glow faded and my vision returned to normal.

"Well…? What'd you find?"

"I found… Nothing. Sorry, Agil."

"Some Spriggan you are…"

"Hey!"

"I found it!" Philia shouted across the room.

"Really?" I called back.

"I think so! My Search skill turned up a bunch of hidden items, but one of them was different from the rest. That has to be the key!"

"Attagirl, Philia!" Agil thrust his fist forward with his thumb pointing upwards.

"But my Search skill didn't turn up anything at all…"

"Don't sweat it, K-dawg." Klein patted my shoulder as he passed me. "Every dog has his day."

"Grr…"

"Here it is!" Philia held a small golden key above her head.

"Way to go, Philia!" Leafa cheered. "You're awesome!"

"It was nothing…" Philia laughed shyly.

"One down, three to go!" Liz marched to the north end of the room and through a large door. "Onwards!"

"Liz! Wait for us!" Silica ran after Liz and the rest of us followed close behind.

It was about a three-minute walk to the next room, which was easily five times the size of the last.

"Ick!" Silica shrieked as she saw what the second room had in store. Buzzing around the room were dozens—maybe even a hundred—huge, oddly-shaped bugs. "Gross! Why bugs!?"

"Aw, c'mon, Silica," Yuuki said. "Bugs aren't that bad once you get used to 'em."

"Well, I don't want to get used to them," Silica huffed.

"You may not have to." Sinon stared intently at the mass of buzzing shapes. "I don't think those are bugs."

"Hm?" Silica looked up. "Oh, you're right! They're keys!"

"Keys…?" I looked up as well, but all I saw were little blurs with wings. "Cait Sith eyesight is really something… I never would have been able to tell that those were keys."

"Now the question is," Sinon mumbled. "Which one is the one we need."

"There's, like, a billion keys up there!" said Strea. "How are we supposed to figure out which one is the right key?"

"Look, there!" Silica pointed to a spot toward the middle of the cloud of flying keys. "That one is moving faster than the rest. It's a different color, too!"

"I don't see it…" Seven squinted at the flying keys.

"But how do we get it…" Silica furrowed her brow.

"I doubt this will work, but…" Sinon nocked an arrow and drew her bow, then closed one eye and held her breath.

"Sinon…" Agil hesitated, trying to find the right words. "You're a great shot and all, but I don't think even you could—"

Sinon let her arrow fly. The shockwave was almost enough to knock me off my feet, and I saw the others stumble backward, too.

"Whoa!" Agil's eyes bulged. "You actually hit it!"

"Sinon! That was amazing!" Rain gasped.

"Wow, Sinon! You're incredible!" Silica chimed.

"Skraaaw!" Pina agreed—I think.

"I appreciate the praise, guys," said Sinon. "But look." She pointed to the key, which was still flapping merrily with the others. "It didn't work."

"Aw, man," Strea whined. "And that was such a good shot, too!"

"The key is probably an immortal object and immune to attacks," said Sinon. "My guess is that someone's going to have to fly up there and catch it."

"Flying keys… A special one that has to be caught…" Lisbeth raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't this seem sort of familiar?"

"But how are we supposed to catch it? I can hardly even follow it with my eyes."

"If that's coming from 'Lightning Flash Asuna' this is definitely not going to be easy…" Philia frowned and there was worry in her voice.

"I think Leafa should be the one to try," I said. "Sylphs have the highest top speed out of all the Fairy races, and I've never seen one faster than Leafa."

"That's right" Yui said from her perch on my shoulder. "According to the data I've collected Leafa is one of the top five fastest players in ALfheim!"

"Well… I don't know about top five…" Leafa smiled awkwardly and blushed.

"Nonetheless, you're definitely the fastest one here," I said. "Think you could give it a try?"

"Yeah, leave it to me! I'll have that key faster than you can blink!" Leafa spread her wings and leaped into the air.

"Go, Leafa! You can do it!" Yui cheered.

"But…shouldn't there be a broom?" Liz snickered.

As soon as Leafa was in the air the keys scattered and began zipping around at lightning speed. I couldn't keep my eyes on any one of them for more than a fraction of a second.

"No! I lost it!" Leafa hovered in place and whipped her head side to side. "Where'd it go…?"

"There!" Sinon pointed to something I could never hope to see.

"Right! Thanks, Sinon!" Leafa took off at blistering speed, leaving a visible wake in the air as she screeched toward the far end of the room, then doubled back, chasing the key. She flew over our heads and her slipstream kicked up a powerful gust. As she soared toward one of the dungeon walls it looked like she might crash, but she twisted her body and hit the wall with her feet, coiled her legs, and kicked off to chase the key even faster than before.

"She's beautiful…" Asuna said, watching Leafa in awe. "It's like she's dancing through the air."

"Almost there…" Leafa reached out toward the key, stretching her fingers as far as she could. As soon as she touched it the rest of the keys stopped suddenly, suspended in midair for a moment before dropping to the ground and shattering into nothing. "I got it!" Leafa called without stopping.

"Leafa—watch out!" I called.

"Waaah!"

"Ooh…" I winced for her as she slammed into the cave wall and dropped to the ground.

"Ouch…"

"Are you alright, Leafa?" Asuna rushed to Leafa, knelt beside her, and chanted a healing spell.

"I'm fine. Thanks, Asuna. More importantly—look!" Leafa held the key above her head. Its wings had disappeared and it had transformed from mob to item. "That's two down, two to go. We're halfway done!"

"Nice work, Leafa," I offered her a thumbs up. "Guess we'd better double back and head down the other hall."

"All I'm saying is…" Liz smirked. "If there's a giant chessboard in this dungeon someone's getting sued."

As the rest of us left the room, heading back toward the antechamber, Agil stayed back for a moment with Liz. "So you caught the reference, too, eh? Isn't that series a little before your time?"

"They may be old, but they're good movies."

"Movies…? Thought you meant the books…"

"Books…?"

"Bah, nevermind."

Agil and Liz hurried after us. We had passed the antechamber and gone down the corridor to the right of the boss room and stopped before a room that was pitch black.

"Jeez, I can't see a thing!" Seven said, squinting in the darkness.

"There could be monsters or traps in there…" Rain sighed uneasily.

"So how are we supposed to handle this?" Asuna asked. "We can't just wander in there blindly."

"I already tried using my Search skill," said Philia. "I can see that there are definitely traps in that room. All over the place, actually. But I can't determine their exact locations if I can't see…"

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," said Yuuki. "I can see in there just fine."

"Huh?" Our heads turned to Yuuki in sync.

"Yeah, I can see the traps clear as day."

"That's right! I almost forgot." Leafa pounded her fist into her palm in realization. "Imps have the best night vision."

"Guess that explains it…" I scratched my cheek. "For a second I thought I was experiencing some kind of FNC."

"If Yuuki is the only one who can see, let's just send her to get the key," Sinon said.

"That won't work." I shook my head. "This is the first room in this corridor. There's no telling what's in the next room, so it's best if we're all there."

"Guess you've got a point. But how are the rest of us supposed to make it around the traps?"

"I have an idea! Asuna, grab my shirt!"

"Huh…? Ok…" Asuna stood behind Yuuki and grabbed a handful of her tunic.

"Ok, now Kirito will hold onto part of your clothes."

"Hm… I think I see where you're going with this." I fell in behind Asuna and grabbed the tail of her robe. "Good thinking, Yuuki."

"Kirito gets it. All aboard the Yuuki Train! Choo choo!"

One by one we grabbed onto each others clothing. Leafa stood behind me, then Agil, then Klein, followed by Rain and Seven, then Silica, Philia, and Strea, with Lisbeth serving as the caboose.

"Ok," said Yui, sitting atop Yuuki's head. "Full steam ahead!"

"Aye aye, Cap'n Yui!"

"Isn't that pirate talk?" Sinon questioned. "I thought we were a train."

"Well, now we're a pirate train. Avast!" Yuuki marched forward into the darkness and Asuna followed closely without hesitating. Asuna trusted Yuuki, and I trusted Asuna, so I followed her into the void without a second thought. I didn't feel so much as a tug of doubt from the others,either, as they started moving in turn.

"Magic rune on our left, watch your step, people!" Yuuki called back.

"Roger," I said.

"Magic trap ahead!" Silica called from the middle of the group so those in the back could hear. "Careful, guys!"

"Skraaaw!" Pina resounded.

"Copy that, Pina!" Strea chirped.

With Yuuki at the lead we continued through the dark room slowly and carefully, weaving through traps and obstacles for about ten minutes. Just before we made it to the light at the other end of the room Yuuki stopped.

"I found it!" she shouted. "That's key number three!" I think she held it above her head in celebration, but, of course, none of us could see it.

"Good job, Yuuki," Asuna said. "Now let's hurry and get to the other side."

"Right."

Yuuki began to move again and soon we came to a lit corridor and we released each other's clothing and the Yuuki Train disbanded.

"One more to go," I said. "Let's hurry and get it so we can fix Nick's sleigh."

"Yeah!" the others all replied in unison.

We walked briskly for a few moments before breaking into a run, hurrying down the corridor.

"A-choo!"

"Eew, gross, Klein! Cover!"

"Sorry, Liz. Is it getting cold all of a sudden…?"

"Now that you mention it…"

As we got closer to the entrance of the next room I noticed frost textures on the walls and floor. The room at the end of the corridor was completely frozen. The whole room was covered in ice, and large icicles hung from the ceiling.

"Of course the last key has to be in a room like this. A-choo!"

"C'mon, Klein, man up," said Agil.

"That's easy for you to say. Salamanders don't do well in the cold, man! Let's just hurry up and find this key so we can leave this room."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Klein." Sinon shivered and rubbed her shoulders.

"Found it!" Strea pointed to a pedestal at the center of the room.

"All right!" Klein bolted toward the center of the room.

"Klein, be careful!" I shouted. "It's—"

"Yeaaaaagh!" Klein slipped on the icy cavern floor and landed on his face with enough force to shake the ground and the icicles on the ceiling.

"Slippery…"

"Nnnnngh…" Klein mumbled.

"Alright, everyone, be careful going forward." Asuna warned. She took a few cautious steps forward and made her way toward the pedestal. The rest of us followed, stepping carefully and weaving around Klein who was twitching on the floor.

"Hmmm…" Yui hovered around the frozen pedestal, inspecting it. The final key was suspended just above the pedestal, encased in a block of ice. "Another enchantment," she said. "And it's a strong one, just like the seal on the entrance."

"I guess we're gonna have to break the spell to get the key," I said. "But how?"

"Maybe we can smash the ice?" Liz offered. "Or chisel it or something?"

"No, I doubt that'll work. Magic enchantments can't usually be broken by brute force."

"What about magic Sword Skills?" said Rain.

"Yeah!" Seven nodded. "Then we'd be hitting it with magic and brute force at the same time. Twice as effective!"

"But wouldn't the key get damaged if we hit it with weapons?" said Philia, furrowing her brow.

"Naw, I don't that would happen," I assured her. "It's just a game item, after all, and a key item at that, so I don't think there's any risk of us breaking it. At the same time, I doubt the system would make beating the hell out of it the method for getting it, given its importance."

"Guess you're right. So how do we get it?"

"I think our safest bet is probably melting the ice. Does anyone know any fire spells?"

"I know one," said Leafa.

"I know a fire spell, but it's not really all that strong…" Rain said, stepping forward.

"It's ok, try it anyway," I said. "You two should try blasting it at the same time. That might do the trick."

"Roger that. Come on, Rain! Ready?"

"Ready."

"One, two…"

The girls began chanting the words of power and outstretched their hands. Then, a gout of flames poured from their palms and engulfed the block of ice. They kept it up for about thirty seconds before they both ran out of mana and dropped their hands to their sides, panting.

"Phew… Did it work?" Leafa asked.

"Hmmm…" Philia inspected the pedestal. "I'm not seeing any difference…"

"The enchantment doesn't seem to be weakened at all," said Yui.

"That's because you're doing it wrong!"

"Huh?" We all turned around to face Klein, who had finally picked himself up and was kneeling on the cavern floor.

"Fire magic doesn't just come from chanting and pointing your hands. It comes from the heart! Let me show you." Klein stepped between the two girls and fixed his gaze on the key. "Right! Lower your stance—like this!"

"Ok…" Leafa and rain spread the feet apart and crouched low.

"Good. Now cross your arms like this with your fists clenched and say the words of power. With feeling, this time!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

The three of them began to chant in unison.

"Then, thrust your hands forward and shout like this— Ha!" Klein thrust his palms toward the pedestal and summoned a stream of flames and the girls followed suit, mimicking his kiai. In truth, it didn't really look any different than it had before.

"Hey… I think it's working!" Yuuki cheered. "Go, guys, go!"

"I guess adding a third person to the mix is what did the trick," said Agil.

The block of ice melted completely, leaving the key lying on the pedestal.

"Now that's how it's done," said Klein, stepping forward to retrieve the key. "Ooh, hot! Hot!" He tossed it back and forth between his hands for a moment, then grasped it firmly and faced us, jabbing his fist forward with his thumb pointing upward. "That's key number four! Now let's go kick some goblin butt and fix Santa's sleigh!"

"Yeah!" we all shouted and pumped our fists in the air.

We doubled back through the dark room, forming the Yuuki Train once more and weaving slowly and carefully between traps, and stopped before the huge door in the antechamber. Klein, Yuuki, Leafa, and Philia stepped forward and inserted their keys into the four slots on the door and turned them. After a moment the door began to creak as it opened reluctantly.

Two rows of torches lit themselves in sequence, marking a long path between the door and a huge ring in the center of the room. An ocean of goblins heckled us as we walked down the path, hopping and dancing and even creating a wave with their arms as they cheered.

"Are we gonna have to fight all of these guys!?" Yuuki's eyes bulged as she looked around the massive room.

"No," I said. "I think these guys are just here for atmosphere."

"I hope you're right."

As soon as we'd all reached the ring at the center of the room the doors slammed shut behind us, causing most of us to jump and look back. The goblins' hooting and cheering grew louder and a dark, massive shape at the back of the room rose and started toward us.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" said Liz.

"You've seen those ones, too!?" Agil blurted.

"Huh…? Seen what?"

"Oh… Nevermind."

The massive shape stepped into the torchlight, which revealed it to be a massive goblin at least six meters tall. The goblin wielded a massive club that seemed to be fashioned from a fallen tree and wore bones as armor. A nametag appeared above its head reading "Groblodor the Goblin Chief." In his left hand Groblodor held a long, thin, metal object which I figured must have been the runner to Nicholas's sleigh. Groblodor drove the runner into the ground behind him and turned to face us, then slammed his club on the ground and roared.

"Alright, everyone!" I said, drawing my swords from my back. "Let's do this!"

"Roger!" the rest shouted in response.

Agil, Strea, and Lisbeth, our group's only tanks, raced forward immediately to draw Groblodor's attention. The rest of us circled around behind it and, as soon as it attacked the tanks, used Sword Skills simultaneously. Before it could aggro on any of us Agil and Liz used their Battle Cry skill to get its attention and Strea hit it with a high-level Sword Skill.

"It's about to use a three-hit skill," Yui called out to the tanks. "Watch out!"

"Roger that. Thanks, Yui." Agil moved back a few meters and Liz and Strea followed suit. Groblodor the Goblin Chief swung his club three times, slamming it into the ground and remaining frozen for several seconds.

"Now!" I raced after Groblodor, activating a skill as I ran. Asuna and Yuuki followed close at my heels. When we reached the Goblin Chief we bombarded it with Howling Octave, Starry Tear, and Mother's Rosario.

Our attack emptied the first of Groblodor's four HP bars and the boss roared and brandished his club.

"Here comes a wide, horizontal swing. Everyone jump!"

As the club swung we jumped over it, clearing it easily thanks to Yui's warning. Sinon and Seven were well outside the boss's attack range and blasted it with spells and arrows, taking out a good chunk of its second HP bar.

"This thing is a big pushover!" Strea chirped.

"Are you sure you should be saying things like that!?" Rain said as she hit Groblodor's left leg with Sharp Nail. "You'll trigger a flag!"

"No worries," Yuuki said casually in the middle of Horizontal Square. "We've got this!"

"Silica!" Philia called. "Let's go!"

"Right!"

Philia and Silica reversed their grips on their daggers and leaped high into the air, then drove drove the points of their weapons into Groblodor's back and slid down, carving two trailing red gashes into his flesh.

As Groblodor the Goblin Chief's HP dwindled the goblin spectators began to hiss and boo.

"Wow… They took the time to program the goblins to react to the fight?"

"Stay focused, Kirito, this is no time to nerd out."

"Right. Sorry, Asuna."

As Klein and Leafa hit Groblodor the Goblin Chief in turn with katana Sword Skills Agil shouted to me across the room. "Kirito! I think it's time for the you-know-what."

I looked at Groblodor's HP which had one and a half bars left. "Right! Set him up for us, guys!"

Agil and Liz waited for Groblodor to swing his club vertically and caught his weapon between their shields and struck together, stunning the Goblin Chief.

"Now!" I shouted. "Hit it with magic Sword Skills!"

Strea activated a Sword Skill, infusing her huge blade with earth magic and slamming it into Groblodor's legs. Philia and Silica leaped into the air and descended in a cascade of water and ice. Leafa and Klein attacked in tandem and enveloped Groblodor in a flaming vortex. Rain's swords emitted a blinding light as she attacked with Seven backing her from behind with holy magic. Asuna and Yuuki dashed forward with a volley of arrows passing between them before they reached the Goblin Chief and tore into it with light and dark Sword Skills.

"It's all you, K-dawg!" Klein shouted in his post-motion delay.

"Right." Groblodor still had a good chunk of red left in his HP bar, so I charged forward, queuing up a dark version of Savage Fulcrum. I cut into Groblodor's flank with Vox Unitas in my right hand and twisted the blade, then turned around and sliced over my shoulder. As soon as the post-motion delay began I activated Horizontal Square, slashing four times with Divination and leaving a flaming square graphic in the air surrounding Groblodor. I then executed five icy, high-speed thrusts with Vox Unitas, followed by three powerful slashes. He had just a sliver of HP left, so I activated Sharp Nail and cleaved three times with Divination, each slash leaving behind a trail of golden light.

The last of Groblodor's HP vanished and the Goblin Chief stood stock-still as his model glowed white and burst into countless polygonal shards.

"Way to go, Kiri-bro!" Klein pumped his fist in the air.

"It wasn't just me. Good work, everyone. Let's hurry and get that runner back to Nick."

"Yeah!" Seven shouted as she ran toward the runner. "We have to hurry and get it back to him so he can deliver the—hey!"

The goblin audience, whose hissing and booing had grown even louder, had begun throwing various items at us, including—but not limited to—fruits, small wooden tools, and rocks.

"Seriously!?" Liz shrieked, covering her head with her shield. "What a bunch of sore losers!"

"Let's hurry and get that runner before they start throwing weapons!" said Rain.

"Good call," said Asuna.

Seven snatched the sleigh runner and we covered our heads and ran for the exit. We made it outside the cave in just a few seconds and spread our wings, then took off south toward the forest. We found Nicholas's sleigh without trouble and landed nearby, then hurried toward him.

"Santa!" Seven called. "We have the part to your sleigh!"

"Thank goodness," Nicholas sighed. "A thousand thanks to you, Fairies."

"All that's left is to reattach it," I said.

"Leave that to us!" Liz strutted to the sleigh and Rain took the runner from Seven. "Think you guys can lift the sleigh while we attach this piece?"

"Sure thing," said Agil. "Strength stat, don't fail me now!"

"I can help, too!" Strea approached the sleigh and she and Agil lifted it. Then, Rain slid the runner underneath it and she and Liz got to work with their hammers.

"I can't believe you guys carry those around with you," I mused.

"Hey, a true Leprechaun never travels without her hammer!" Liz retorted.

The rest of us watched in silence while Liz and Rain worked on the sleigh. It was only a couple of minutes before a glowing visual effect signified the sleigh's restoration and the quest log updated.

"Alright," Liz said. "That ought to do it!"

Rain turned to Nicholas. "With your sleigh fixed, you should be able to finish your task now, right?"

"I thought that would be the case once the sleigh was restored, but…" Nicholas looked solemnly at his reindeer. All eight of them were lying in the snow, their eyes distant. It didn't take a master beast tamer to see what was going on.

"They're too sad to fly…" Silica said, her eyes welling up.

"All they wanted to do was help Santa deliver presents," Philia said, her shoulders slumped. "But they get shot out of the sky for no reason!"

"Yeah," said Yuuki. "I'd probably be pretty bummed if I were in their shoes. Or hooves."

"But how did this happen?" Asuna looked at me pleadingly. "Did we fail the quest because we took too long to finish?"

"No," I said, opening the quest log. "The quest is still marked as active, so I don't think we've failed it just yet."

"Then what do we do!?" Seven wailed.

"I know!" Strea knelt beside one of the reindeer and wrapped her arms tightly around its neck. "They just need hugs to lift their spirits!"

"S-Strea! Be gentle!" Asuna cried.

The reindeer groaned a bit, but seemed otherwise unharmed—a fairly typical reaction to Strea's infamous hugs.

"I don't think it's working…" Rain frowned.

"No… But she may be onto something."

"Huh?" Asuna raised an eyebrow. "You think you've figured it out, Kirito? I guess I shouldn't be surprised." She smiled in relief.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up. It's just a hunch, but I think I've figured this quest out."

"Well spit it out already!" Seven demanded.

"This quest couldn't be started without a Cait Sith in the party, right?"

"Right," said Leafa. "None of the other fairy races can talk to animals, so we wouldn't have been able to start the quest without Silica."

"Exactly. Then, despite you having the most playtime logged in ALO, your healing spell wasn't strong enough to heal Nick's reindeer. Only Asuna, an Undine, was able to do it.

"Then it took Strea and Agil, two Gnomes, to open the dungeon. Philia, a Spriggan with a maxed out Search skill, was the only one who could find the first key in that treasure room. Only a Sylph could have been fast enough to catch the second key, and no one but an Imp could have found their way to the third one. Leafa, Rain, and Klein all used fire magic to melt the ice encasing the fourth key, but I bet it was Klein's fire that actually did the trick."

"Hell yeah!" Klein cheered. "You guys hear that? We couldn't have finished this quest without your friendly neighborhood samurai!"

"Shush, Klein," Liz hushed him. "Not now."

"Liz and Rain are the only smiths in our group," I continued. "And they're extremely talented. But I bet that's not the only reason they were able to fix the sleigh."

"I think I see where you're going with this, daddy," said Yui. "You think that only a Leprechaun could have fixed the sleigh, right?"

"Exactly. And if I'm right, that means you need at least one player from each of the nine races in order to complete this quest."

"But you only listed eight of the nine races," Leafa said.

"That's right." I turned to face Seven who looked up at me curiously. "The only race whose abilities haven't been needed until this point is the Pooka. That's why I think you're the one who needs to finish this quest, Seven."

"Me? But the only thing Pooka are especially good at is…"

"That's it!" Strea leaped to her feet. "If Seven sings them a Christmas carol it'll lift their spirits for sure!"

"Are you sure about this…?" Seven shuffled her feet nervously.

"Right now we don't have any better ideas, so I think it's worth a shot."

"Well, if you think it'll work, Kirito…"

"I'll sing with you, Seven!" Silica said despite her cheeks turning red. "I'll be a little embarrassed to sing in front of everyone, but…maybe if a Cait Sith sings with you, it'll make it easier for the reindeer to understand!" Pina nodded in agreement from her perch on Silica's head.

"That's a great idea, Silica! In that case, do you know this one?" Seven leaned toward Silica and whispered something in her ear.

"Yeah, I think I can sing that one… I'm ready when you are."

Seven and Silica approached the reindeer and stood hand in hand and closed their eyes. They drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment, and the world seemed to hold its breath along with them. After a second of perfect silence the girls began to sing.

"Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright."

I couldn't discern the meaning of most of the English lyrics, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The snow danced as it fell and the reindeer lifted their heads toward Seven and Silica.

"Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace," the girls continued.

"This is the most beautiful sound I've ever heard," Asuna sniffed.

"I think I might cry," Philia whispered. "It's ok if I cry, right?"

I laughed softly, but after that no one made a sound as Seven and Silica finished their song.

"Did it work?" Seven asked, finally opening her eyes.

The reindeer had risen to their feet during the song and were lined up, stamping their feet with determination.

"I think they're saying 'yes'!" Silica cheered.

"Hooray!"

"That was wonderful!" Nicholas said to the girls. "I could never begin to repay you Fairies for all that you have done. However…I must selfishly ask you for one last favor. I hope you can forgive me, and that you will agree."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Liz groaned. "Will this quest ever end?"

"Liz!" Asuna hissed.

"What? I can't be the only one who's thinking it."

"I've lost a lot of time thanks to those pesky goblins," Nicholas continued. Despite being an NPC he seemed to be actively ignoring Lisbeth. "I won't be able to deliver these packages on schedule. Not on my own, at least."

"You want us to help you deliver the gifts?" Philia asked.

"Yes… Please. I wish I didn't have to ask, but I'm left with no choice."

"Of course we'll help!" Seven blurted. "We'd be happy to!"

"I'm with Seven!" Silica giggled.

"Skraaaw!"

"And Pina says she wants to help, too!"

"It's settled, then," I said. "Let's help Santa deliver presents to the good boys and girls of Alfheim!"

"Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart." Nicholas climbed into his sleigh and turned to us. "You have the gift of flight, so I ask that you use that gift tonight to spread joy to this realm, as I cannot fit you all in my sleigh. However, I have room for just one of you to accompany me and hand the packages to your friends who will then deliver them."

"Just one…" Yuuki said. "But how are we supposed to choose who rides with Santa Claus?"

"I think it should be Silica," Seven said.

"Me…? But Seven, you were more excited than anyone when you saw Santa. And we couldn't have finished this quest at all without you!"

"Maybe, but…" Seven looked at the ground. "It should be you, Silica…"

"Seven…" Silica frowned. She looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it. "If you're sure…" She climbed into the sleigh beside Nicholas, but she didn't look too happy about it.

"My, you're a tiny one!" Nicholas mused. "I think we can fit one more, as long as they're as small as you."

"Really!?" Silica gasped. "Seven!"

"Yay!" Seven squealed and darted to the other side of the sleigh and hopped in. "Thank you, Silica! Oh, and you, too, Santa!"

"Ho ho," he chuckled. "Well, I think we'd best be going. Are the rest of you ready?" he called back to us over his shoulder.

"Roger, Santa!" Strea answered for us.

"In that case…" Nicholas grasped the reins tightly as the rest of us spread our wings. "On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen!"

"He's doing the thing!" Seven squeaked.

"On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, on Blitzen!" Nicholas snapped the reins and the eight reindeer ran a few meters before leaping and pulling the sleigh into the sky. The rest of us took off and followed closely behind them, flying in a "V" shape on either side of Nicholas's sleigh.

Silica and Seven twisted in their seats and waved to us, smiling brighter than I'd ever seen before, and I waved and smiled back.

It wasn't long before we were flying over Swilvane and I noticed that the quest log had updated.

"Four hundred!?" I blurted.

"What is it, Kirito?" Asuna shouted to me.

"We have to deliver four hundred presents to complete the quest!"

"Jeez!" she said incredulously.

"Don't sweat it!" Strea chirped. "If we're all working together, this is nothing!"

"Guys!" Seven shouted from the sleigh. She and Silica were each holding a colorfully wrapped box above their head.

Asuna and I flew toward the sleigh to grab the first pair of gifts, then dove downward toward the city. I got close to a house but couldn't see any way in. I was sure the system wasn't going to let me go in through the window, and I doubted leaving them on the doorstep would suffice.

"Then how…?"

I looked up at the top of the house and saw a plume of blue smoke rising from the chimney, and my gut told me it was a marker of some sort. I flew up to the chimney and dropped the present inside. The plume of smoke vanished and the quest log updated to read "1/400 gifts delivered."

"Yes!" I cheered. "Guys! You deliver the presents by dropping them in the chimneys!"

"Roger that, K-dawg!" Klein called as he zipped past me. He flew to another house and dropped his present like a bomb as he passed the chimney. "That's a hit!"

For about an hour Asuna, Yuuki, Lisbeth, Rain, Klein, Agil, Strea, Leafa, Philia, Sinon, and I flew back and forth between Nicholas's sleigh and the chimneys of Swilvane. At one point it looked as though we had run out of chimneys, but I noticed that the ones we'd already hit regained their smoke plumes after a short cooldown period, allowing us to deliver more gifts.

"Almost there," I said.

"Uhm, guys?" Sinon shouted. "We've got company." She pointed to the south east where a group of figures was flying toward us in formation.

"Salamanders!" Leafa hissed. "What could they possibly be doing flying in Sylph territory?"

"I don't know," I said. "But I doubt they're here for the holiday festivities." I quickly opened my menu and dragged the Holy Sword Excalibur to the left hand weapon slot on my equipment mannequin, replacing Divination.

"Looks like this holiday quest might get a bit exciting after all!" Yuuki sang.

The Salamanders didn't take long to reach us, and once they were close I saw a face that I recognized. It was none other than General Eugene.

"What the hell are you guys doing here!?" Leafa asked as we flew to meet the squadron of Salamanders.

"Word is there's a huge reward to anyone who manages to take out that sleigh," Eugene said. I had figured he wouldn't be the type to mince words. "Don't get in our way. We'll wipe you out, too."

"Seriously!?" Yuuki growled. "Don't you know that's Santa Claus!? Do you wanna be on the naughty list forever!?"

"Only naive children would pass up an opportunity like this for such a stupid reason," Eugene said dismissively. "I take it you won't stand aside, then?"

"Like hell we will!" Klein spat.

"Hey!" One of the Salamanders pointed an accusing finger at Klein. "You're a Salamander, too! Shouldn't you be on our side?"

"Like I'd help a bunch of scrooges like you take down Santa!"

"In that case, you'll die." General Eugene pointed his sword and his squadron of Salamanders charged toward us.

"We're not planning on going down that easily!" I drew my swords and headed straight toward General Eugene.

"Let's teach teach these guys a lesson about holiday cheer!" Liz said. She and the others engaged the rest of the Salamanders with a valiant roar, and the sky lit up in a cascade of colorful Sword Skills.

"I've heard of you," Eugene said to me as we hovered several meters apart. "You're that 'hero' that no one ever shuts up about: the Spriggan Kirito."

"And you're General Eugene, wielder of the Demonic Sword Gram."

"I see my reputation precedes me. Good. Then you already know how this is going to end. Make this easier on both of us and give up now."

"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen."

"Fine, it makes no difference to me. Die!"

Eugene flew toward me with his sword raised and swung straight for my head once he'd reached me. I rose one sword in front of me, but I remembered from a "This Week's Winners" segment I saw on MMO Stream that each of the Demonic Sword Gram's blows ignored the first attempt to block. Surely enough, the Demon Sword phased right through my sword. I raised my second sword, catching his Demonic Sword Gram with the Holy Sword Excalibur, and pushed Eugene back and slashed at him twice, landing one blow and taking off a chip of his HP.

"So you even knew about that," he mused.

"Hard to forget a game-breaking weapon like that."

"That's funny coming from the wielder of Excalibur."

"Ha, guess you've got me there."

We collided, Sword Skill on Sword Skill, sending sparks through the air, pushed away from each other, then collided again over and over, slowly chipping away at each other's HP. Mine was the first to reach yellow.

"Between our weapons and our skill we are matched," Eugene said, smirking. "It looks like the victor will be decided by defense. Since I wear heavy armor and you wear light, you can't hope to win."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," I said. I pulled my sword back by my right side, then charged toward General Eugene with Vorpal Strike and a sound effect like a screeching jet engine accompanied me.

Eugene parried the skill with ease. "Too easy," he said, preparing to strike. "You should know better than to attack when there isn't an opening."

I allowed myself a slight smirk as I queued up another Sword Skill with my left hand.

"!?" Eugene's eyes bulged.

I slashed Eugene's torso seven times with Deadly Sins, forcing him backward with the shock. Being the first Sword Skill to land decisively, Deadly Sins took out a huge chunk of his HP and brought him straight to the yellow.

"How did you do that!?" he demanded. "You shouldn't be able to activate a Sword Skill immediately after using one. What kind of skill was that?"

"It's an exploit called 'Skill Connect.' If your timing is right, you can activate a one-handed Sword Skill immediately as the post-motion delay starts for your first."

"Tch… I admit that I'm impressed. But it won't be enough!"

Eugene came for me again and unleashed a flurry of blows. I parried each one carefully, but as the onslaught continued it got more difficult to keep up with the Demon Sword and my HP started to dwindle again.

"Tch…"

Eugene saw the sweat on my brow and took it to mean I was open.

"Yeeeaaagh!" Eugene's blade ignited and he swung viciously eight times from right to left, up and down, and diagonally, carving a fiery star into the air. Then, he panted and stared at me in awe. "How…? How did you manage to block my Volcanic Blazer?"

"That's the drawback to being as famous as you, General Eugene. Everyone's heard of your Demonic Sword Gram as well as your famous Original Sword Skill. I knew all the specs of the Volcanic Blazer skill well in advance."

"Tch! It doesn't matter. You may have blocked it, but you still took severe damage." He was right. I looked in the top left corner of my vision to see a sad speck of red. "You're finished!"

Eugene swung downward, aiming for my head again. "I don't think so!" I caught his blade with both of mine and pushed him back. Then, I crossed my swords by my left side and both of them began to glow a brilliant blue.

"What…?" Eugene held his sword in front of him and braced the blade with his left hand.

It had taken me forever to finally complete this OSS, and I'd gone through hell and back to do it, but some time ago I had finally pulled it off. And I could think of no better scenario for its debut than this duel.

"…Starburst…Stream!"

I swung both blades from left to right and let the momentum carry me into a spin, then swung twice again, then twice more. I carved an "X" into the air, then traced it back, and each blow resulted in a reverberating metal clang as my swords collided with his. General Eugene had held his ground until this point, but the sixteen-hit Sword Skill wasn't even half over. One more "X"-shaped cut broke his guard, tossing his sword aside.

"Whoa…" Yuuki gasped.

"That's right, you've never seen the Dual Blades skill in action, have you, Yuuki?" said Asuna.

It seemed the others had finished off the rest of the Salamanders and were now spectating.

"Nope… It's amazing."

"Go, daddy, go!" Yui cheered from Asuna's shoulder.

"Is it possible he's even faster than he was that day?" Klein wondered aloud.

With Eugene's guard broken I accelerated my attack, swinging my blades back and forth as fast as the system would allow. Eugene dashed backward, trying to find room to breathe, but Starburst Stream's final strike was a charging thrust. I chased him down, thrusting forward with Excalibur in my left hand.

"Haaaaah!"

The blade pierced his armor and I ran him through, reducing the last of his HP to zero.

"Raaaagh!" Eugene screamed, enraged, as his avatar burst, leaving behind a small flame.

. . .

"And that's it." I said, sitting on the edge of the fountain in Alne. "Finishing the quest was easy after they were dealt with. Nick only needed our help with Swilvane to get back on schedule, and after that we parted ways and the quest ended."

"I see. And the reward?"

"Hmm…" I scratched my head. "I'm not really sure if there was one, but you might want to ask Silica or Seven. I bet they'd be the ones to receive it since they were in the sleigh and the closest to the questgiver."

"Hmm… I see…"

"Hm?"

"…It sounds like you guys had a lotta fun tonight."

"Y-yeah, I guess you could say that."

Argo stared at the ground with a sad smile. "You guys always seem to have fun. But I'm the one who's always…"

"Argo…" If "Social Skills" was an ingame stat mine would be zero. But even I could tell that she was about to say "left out."

"I told ya, Kii-boy, it's nothin'."

She smiled again but it didn't reach her eyes. This wasn't the first time she had admitted to feeling this way, but, with my social skills being zero, I couldn't produce the dialogue option that would make her feel better, so I just sat there in silence.

"…"

"Welp," she said, getting to her feet. "I'd better get—nyah!"

Out of nowhere a pair of arms wrapped around Argo's waist from behind.

"You know, Miss Argo, I bet the quest can be completed a second time if the party leader is different!"

"What're ya talking about? Youch, Strea, don't squeeze that hard! I can't breathe!"

"Oh, hey…everyone. I thought you'd all logged off for the night?"

"Well, we were about to," said Asuna. "Before we realized there was one last person we'd forgotten to wish a merry Christmas. But that can wait until after we finish the quest." Asuna smiled warmly.

"Asuna…" For the first time in the three years I'd known her Argo the Rat was at a loss for words.

"Woo!" Yuuki shouted. "Operation: Save Santa round two!"

"Come on!" Strea said, pulling Argo along behind her. "If we hurry, you can all get to bed before the real Santa comes!"

"Guys, quit it! I'm serious!" Argo pulled back and tried to escape Strea's grip to no avail. "…Ya don't hafta go through all that again for my sake…"

"Of course we don't have to, Miss Argo!" said Silica. "We want to!"

"Skraaaw!" said Pina.

"Pina says 'you'll have lots of fun'!"

"Lemme go, ya buncha lunatics!" Argo continued to fight as Strea and the others dragged her along, but she wasn't fooling anyone. As they took to the sky I could see her smile from all the way down here on the ground. I smiled, too, and followed Argo and the others as they raced toward the forest near Swilvane.

END


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